A Digital Military Talent Initiative for Noncitizen Technologists
Competent and innovative technologists are crucial to the future of U.S. national security. The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) warns that a digital talent deficit at the Department of Defense (DOD) represents the greatest impediment to the U.S. military’s effective embrace of emerging technologies (such as artificial intelligence).
A new Digital Military Talent Initiative could help address the military’s digital-talent gap by providing an expedited path to U.S. citizenship through military service for noncitizen technologists aligned to NSCAI archetypes. Modernization of an already-existing DOD program and military enlistment policy updates could infuse digital talent by providing vetted noncitizens a pathway to accelerated naturalization through military service.
Challenge and Opportunity
A paucity of technical talent threatens the U.S. military’s current and future capability goals, as evidenced by the military’s ongoing inability to staff cyber units or achieve objectives set by the Pentagon’s Chief Data Officer. Global competition for technical talent requires the United States to get more creative with recruitment. The former Director of the DOD’s Defense Innovation Unit noted that the Pentagon’s efforts to add science and technology talent to its workforce are “insufficient” given competitors’ gains in these arenas.
If current efforts are insufficient to meet technical talent needs, future efforts may be worse. Projections suggest the U.S. population is aging, such that fewer working-age persons will be available relative to the broader population in years to come. This trend may have an outsize negative impact on the military’s available talent pool, as the military fills its ranks predominantly with younger workers. Only 12% of the nation’s young adults are qualified and available to enlist, further exacerbating the larger recruiting shortage. Compounding the problem is the fact that military-eligible tech talent is often lost to the higher-paying private sector. Last, lack of lifestyle flexibility may make the military a hard sell, especially for innovative and free-thinking talent.
Even the newest models for bringing private-sector talent into the military, such as the U.S. Digital Corps and cyber direct-hire authorities, only harness talent from existing U.S. citizens. Proposals for training more government technologists (e.g., by creating a federal digital service academy) are limited by the number of citizens who may be willing and able to participate.
There is a blueprint that may help overcome these challenges. During the Global War on Terror, the U.S. military enlisted over 10,000 noncitizen volunteers through the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program. Under this program, a select group of pre-screened recruits was offered the chance to remain in the U.S. and obtain citizenship in exchange for military service. Notwithstanding an untimely termination that gave rise to a series of lawsuits, MAVNI was widely recognized as a success. It should be noted that over 14,000 individuals expressed interest in the first year that the U.S. Army sought to enlist recruits in the Global War on Terror pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 504(b)(2)). However, the program was limited in scope. Although many MAVNI participants held advanced degrees, the skillsets the program sought (due to DOD’s self-imposed restrictions) were limited to certain foreign languages and medical specialties. Modernizing and expanding MAVNI with statutory authority commensurate with the realities of modern conflict could help mitigate technology talent shortages in the military.
Modernizing and expanding MAVNI would also align with the NSCAI’s recommendation for a “comprehensive” legislative strategy to enable “highly skilled immigrants to encourage more AI talent to study, work, and remain in the United States.” Our nation’s inadequate strategies for recruiting foreign technical and STEM talent have caused leading companies like Google to appeal for Congressional assistance, even as peer nations like Canada have developed novel, effective policies to support digital immigration. During the Trump administration, Toronto became the fastest-growing location for tech-sector jobs in North America. The upshot is clear: the U.S. military—and the United States generally—faces a widening tech talent gap that requires out-of-the-box thinking to address.
Plan of Action
We propose a two-part plan of action for launching a national Digital Military Talent Initiative. Part One entails minor modifications to existing law governing U.S. military eligibility. Part Two involves modernizing the existing MAVNI program by expanding the definition of skills deemed “vital to the national interest” and evolving recruitment and technology practices to incorporate this new talent. More detail on each of these components is provided below.
Part 1. Amend existing law governing U.S. military eligibility.
Two paragraphs of 10 U.S.C. § 504(b) should be modified to enable the Department of Defense to access noncitizen technologists. First, 10 U.S.C. § 504(b)(2)—which governs military enlistment of individuals who are neither U.S. citizens, permanent residents, nor citizens of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, or Palau— should be modified to read:
“Notwithstanding paragraph (1), and subject to paragraph (3), the Secretary concerned may authorize enlistment of a person not described in paragraph (1) if the Secretary determines that such person possesses a critical skill or expertise that is vital to the national interest.”
In other words, 10 U.S.C. § 504(b)(2) should be modified by removing provision (B), which currently requires that an enlistee use their referenced “critical skill or expertise” in their “primary daily duties.” This requirement unnecessarily inhibits military commanders at all levels, since critical skills and expertise often include skills and expertise deployed only in moments of the utmost exigency.
Second, 10 U.S.C. § 504(b)(3) should be modified to read:
“A Secretary concerned may not authorize more than 10,000 enlistments under paragraph (2) per military department in a calendar year until after the Secretary of Defense submits to Congress written notice of the intent of that Secretary concerned to authorize more than 10,000 such enlistments in a calendar year.”
This language increases the enlistment number at which the Secretary of Defense is statutorily obligated to notify Congress and does away with the 30-day waiting period that the Secretary must wait between notifying Congress and proceeding with the enlistment authorization.
These modifications are needed to accommodate anticipated recruitment under an expanded MAVNI and help the Secretary to move quickly on leveraging such a talent pool. Congressional changes can be slow and difficult to change; however, without these changes, the MAVNI program will continue to be constrained when bringing noncitizen tech talent into the military.
Part 2. Modernize the DOD’s existing MAVNI program by authorizing enlistment for certain vetted noncitizens with critical digital competencies.
The MAVNI program authorizes certain noncitizens to enlist if they possess critical skills limited to certain foreign languages and medical specialties. As the demands of modern conflict have adjusted at the speed of technological advancement, so too should the way the U.S. staffs its military. The DOD should expand the MAVNI program to include skills aligned to the NSCAI’s digital-talent archetypes, the 2021 Executive Order 14028 on improving the nation’s cybersecurity, FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act, and the 2023 Executive Order 14110 on the development and use of artificial intelligence. The DOD should also consider the following recommendations to modernize the existing MAVNI program.
MAVNI Program Setup:
- Determine talent needs of military service-software factories, as well as tactical-level units and enterprise programs pursuing technology transformations.
- Source and prioritize needs related to specific problem statements and technology applications that can be developed with minimal risk and have potential for significant impact.
- Educate internal stakeholders on leveraging noncitizen technologists capable of developing and shipping code in zero trust environments.
- Evolve and scale MAVNI program infrastructure in alignment with DOD zero trust principles and architecture requirements.
- Develop professional-development and career pathways that incentivize recruited technical talent to remain engaged in their military careers.
- Gather and implement feedback from program alumni and participants on topics including recruitment, retention, training, incentives, and community-building.
Recruitment Process:
- Define enlistment pathways for recruited technical talent. For instance, a recruit might first enter into a non-classified military occupational specialty—whether a unique specialty for uncleared technical talent or a traditional specialty. After receiving a clearance naturalization, the recruit could a) shift to an existing enlisted role in information technology/networking, cyber, and electronic warfare, b) enter a potentially new technology-specialty role, or c) commission as a warrant or officer.
- Understand military recruiter pain points and concerns specific to MAVNI and technical talent identification to ensure appropriate talent screening, talking points, and incentivization for both the recruiter and potential service member.
- MAVNI participants enlisting in the military are encouraged to join any of the Regular or Reserve components.
- Naturalization should occur prior to MAVNI participants reporting to initial active duty training to avoid creating any U.S. visa complications.
Conclusion
The DOD’s current technology talent deficiencies may evolve into an existential vulnerability without significant course correction, while our competitors increase investments in both R&D and STEM education. The DOD can begin addressing these deficiencies through an integrated Technical Military Talent Initiative. Such an initiative should comprise two parts: (1) amending existing law governing enlistment eligibility and (2) modernizing the existing MAVNI program to recruit talent for the military in alignment with STEM skills “vital to the national interest.” Together, these actions will dramatically grow the U.S. military’s eligible technology talent pool, thus enabling it to better compete in future sub-threshold and armed conflict.
This idea was originally published on February 9, 2022; we’ve re-published this updated version on November 13, 2024. The views expressed are those of the authors. The analysis presented stems from the authors’ academic research of publicly available sources, not from protected operational information. All errors and omissions are those of the authors.
This action-ready policy memo is part of Day One 2025 — our effort to bring forward bold policy ideas, grounded in science and evidence, that can tackle the country’s biggest challenges and bring us closer to the prosperous, equitable and safe future that we all hope for whoever takes office in 2025 and beyond.
The Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program recruited noncitizens with needed language and/or medical expertise to serve in the U.S. military. Though widely regarded as successful, MAVNI did encounter friction, such as security concerns. The DOD can address such concerns for an expanded version of MAVNI by ensuring that the totality of contributor service through the program occurs in zero trust security environments, including those already championed by the Army’s Enterprise Cloud Management Agency. This will enable program participants to support critical mission requirements without placing underlying capabilities or operational data at risk. The DOD should also consider piloting a modernized MAVNI in software engineering use cases. Software can be vetted through continuous integration-continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines prior to release. Recruited software engineers can generate features and capabilities for interacting with sensitive data without the engineers actually needing access to that data.
In a global post-digital era, military operations and capabilities are also redefined. The military needs more technology talent to staff cyber units, operate military-software factories, and more. Furthermore, the most recent National Security Strategy’s emphasis on artificial intelligence and “attract[ing] and retain[ing] inventors and innovators” in the digital space highlights the need to think creatively about opportunities to recruit tech talent.
A key reason why relying on contracted talent is a problematic approach is that the success of projects carried out by contractors depends on the education and experience of the military personnel providing project guidance. Recruitment and development of in-house STEM talent is a better, more efficient way for the military to approach technical talent needs for the long term.
Very. Naturalization is the process for an individual to become a U.S. citizen if that individual was born outside of the U.S.. Since 2002, the U.S.has naturalized more than 148,000 members of the U.S. military, both at home and abroad. In the last five years (FY2017–FY2021), the U.S. naturalized almost 30,000 service members. In FY2021, the U.S. naturalized 8,800 service members, a 90% increase over the previous year.
A military service member who has served for one year or more—or who served during a designated period of conflict—can apply for naturalization with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services through the N-400 process. Other requirements for military naturalization include that the service member in question be separated under honorable conditions, be a lawful permanent resident upon application unless serving during wartime, and more. This process, while functional, can also be slow due to DOD’s new policies that prevent recruits from filing their applications early in their period of service. An expedited path towards naturalization for service members with tech talent could help the military meet its technical talent needs.
The NSCAI buckets the archetypes the U.S. needs to train for AI competitiveness into Researchers, Implementers, End Users, and Informed Consumers. The Technical Military Talent Initiative will focus on recruiting researchers and implementers to enhance the U.S.’s capacity to transform national security. Recruitment efforts should emphasize individuals with industry experience, informal training (self-taught, coding boot camps, and other industry-recognized, non-academic accreditation courses), and formal academic STEM education across AI, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, molecular biology, computational biology, biomedical engineering, cybersecurity, data science, mathematics, physics, human-computer interaction, robotics, and design. The objective is to recruit individuals who can operate in uniform as software engineers, data scientists, data analysts, product designers, hardware engineers, product management, technical program management, solutions architects, and technical information technology and cybersecurity specialists.
There are two categories of visas– immigrant and nonimmigrant. Immigrant visas are issued to foreign nationals who intend to live permanently in the U.S.; an immigrant visa allows the person to obtain “lawful permanent residence,” known as a “green card.” Immigrant visa categories include EB-1A for Extraordinary Ability or EB-1C for Multinational Managers and Executives. Unfortunately, immigrant visas are subject to restrictive quotas both annually and per country, such that it can take many years and thousands of dollars for a person to obtain one. For MAVNI, the focus will be on accessions of nonimmigrant visa holders with STEM degrees or technology skills and experience mapped to NSCAI archetypes seeking to legally remain in the country. These visas include F-1 (and Optional Practical Training “OPT”) for international students, J-1 for STEM exchange students, L-1 for intracompany transferees, O-1A for extraordinary ability, H-1B for specialty occupations, and TN for certain tech workers who hold Canadian or Mexican citizenship. Such individuals have also been extensively vetted by the U.S. Government prior to being accorded their visas, so they are a relatively low risk population compared to persons with other immigration statuses that do not require extensive vetting.
First, the DOD can direct military recruiting centers to prioritize the MAVNI program as one of many pathways to meet broader recruitment goals. Second, the DOD can redefine “critical skills” to include the NSCAI archetypes to identify and recruit individuals with STEM talent. Third, the DOD can implement zero trust principles (or other models) to enable Regular and Reserve components to utilize MAVNI STEM talent with appropriate technology and operational risk management tools and education.
First, Congressional action is needed to remove formal barriers that prevent MAVNI participants from using their STEM skills without limitation from their Military Occupational Specialty “primary daily duties.” Second, Congress needs to increase the number of enlistments available to the DOD for MAVNI participants before triggering Congressional notification, resulting in a 30-day waiting period.
Commonly used in software development pipelines, a zero trust stance “assume[s] that an attacker is present in the environment…an enterprise must continually analyze and evaluate the risks to its assets and business functions and then enact protections to mitigate these risks.” Federal zero trust cybersecurity practices are outlined in NIST Special Publication 800-207. Applying these principles to all operations and units using MAVNI recruits will help mitigate potential security vulnerabilities.
As cyber threats grow more complex and sophisticated, the nation’s ability to defend itself depends on developing a robust, adaptable, and highly skilled cybersecurity workforce.
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